Samoa, who had to hold fundraising dinners to raise the money to travel to France, made a physical start but paid the price when their full-back was sent off for a trip on Hunt after 12 minutes.

England srum-half Natasha Hunt went over for two tries in the victory against Samoa

Scarratt kicked the resulting penalty and Gary Street's side never looked back.

With Canada beating Spain 31-7 earlier in the day, England sit top of Pool A.

They last won the World Cup in 1994 and were beaten by New Zealand in the 2010 final at Twickenham Stoop.

With Spain next up for England on Tuesday, they are well placed to set up another meeting with the Black Ferns, who beat Kazakhstan 79-5 in their opener.

England vice-captain Sarah Hunter:

"There were patches we were very happy with but other parts we let ourselves down with our execution and clinicalness.

"There are definitely areas to go away and review and get better. We certainly aren't the finished article and we knew from day one we never would be.

"It's about how we build through the tournament.

"We know Spain will be another tough game for us. They've got a very dominant pack and a lot of their sevens players have transferred across to the XVs game so we know they play with a lot of tempo and a lot of width that will really test us."